Selling and Redeeming Gift Cards

A gift card holds a balance the practice has already been paid for. You sell one, the customer pays for it like anything else, and the balance is then spent against future visits - by whoever holds the card.

There is nothing to switch on. The tools are on the encounter, on the patient record, and on the Admin page under Gift Cards.

Sell or load a card

1. Open the encounter for whoever is buying, and click Sell / load a gift card.
2. Enter the Card UID. If you use NFC cards, tap the card on the reader and it fills itself in.
3. Enter the Amount, and record the Purchaser and Recipient where they are different people - that is what makes a lost card traceable later.
4. Click Add Gift Card to this Visit.

The card is added to the visit as a line to be paid for, and the customer settles it with the encounter like any other charge. It is not funded until that payment is taken.

The same screen loads more value onto a card that already exists - enter the existing Card UID and the amount to add.

Redeem against a visit

1. On the encounter being paid, click Redeem a gift card.
2. Enter or tap the Card UID. The card's Current balance appears.
3. Enter the Amount to take. It may be part of the balance - a card does not have to be spent all at once.
4. Check Balance After reads what you expect, then click Apply to Visit.

The amount comes off the visit and off the card together. Anything left stays on the card for next time.

Check a balance

Use Check Gift Card Balance to read a card without touching a visit - the right tool when someone rings up to ask what is left. Gift Card Store Value on the patient record shows the cards linked to that patient, and View full transaction history shows every load and redemption with the balance after each.

Where the money appears in your reports

This surprises people, so it is worth understanding once.

The revenue is recorded when the card is sold, not when it is spent. Selling a $100 card puts $100 of revenue in the day it was bought. When that card is later redeemed against a visit, the redemption settles revenue you have already recorded rather than adding more.

So a redemption is not a discount and not a new payment - it is the customer spending money you were already paid. If it added to revenue again, the same $100 would be counted twice: once when bought, once when used.

What this means day to day:

• A day with heavy gift card redemption can show strong visit activity and modest takings. That is correct - the money arrived on the day the cards were sold.
• Selling cards is credited to the clinic. Providers are credited for the services they actually deliver when the card is redeemed. Neither is counted twice.
• An unspent card is money you hold but have not yet given anything for. Practices that track this treat outstanding balances as a liability - the Gift Cards section on the Admin page lists every card with its Balance and Status.

Practical points

• Record the recipient. A card with no name against it is very hard to help with when it goes missing.
• Cards are bearer instruments - whoever has the UID can spend the balance. Treat a stack of unissued cards like a cash drawer.
• Selling is not funding. If the encounter is never paid, the card was issued and never paid for. Check the visit was settled.